THE relative of an elderly woman who will lose her home when Darlington council closes its residential homes has branded the official consultation exercise a farce.

The council's cabinet approved the closure of its five homes on Tuesday subject to a rubber stamp from the ratification committee on Wednesday.

It will result in the loss of 150 jobs and the movement of 111 residents into the private sector.

Mr Colin Morris, the council's director of social services, recommended their closure because the council could not afford to modernise them.

He estimates £4.5m is needed to bring the homes in line with new government guidelines, due to be published in 2002.

Relatives of the residents put up widespread opposition to the plan but now appear to have lost the fight to save Gladstone Hall, Moorcroft, Neville House, The Lawns and Westfield House.

Structural engineer Mr David Cooke, whose mother lives in Neville House, said he was totally disillusioned by the whole consultation process.

He claims a report to councillors in July contained several misleading engineering points about Neville House.

"Mr Morris is saying that it cannot be modernised without causing great disruption to residents, but he is talking out of the back of his head," said Mr Cooke.

"It has separate wings that could be done one by one, so it lends itself well to being modernised.

"It was a flawed document, full of misinformation. It was a foregone conclusion what was going to happen to these homes, even before the last scrutiny committee."

Mr Cooke raised the issues in a letter to each member of that committee and was disappointed that they did not raise them.

"It was quite obvious they would rather not have had my letter," he said,

"Councillors are there to represent their constituents, but really they just toe the party line."

Mr Alan Docherty of Unison, which represents the care workers, accused the council of using the new standards as an excuse.

"The real reason for closure is that the council considers it can save £1m a year in revenue costs," he said.

"We've asked the council to look at their consultant's report. Two of the homes - including Neville House - only have eight rooms that are sub-standard.

"The other three houses do require a lot of work, and I can accept that. But the motivating factor, the carrot for the council, is budget savings.

"We think it's totally unnecessary and have tried to make the council see sense.

"Mr Cooke and I put these points to the council's scrutiny committee. If the scrutiny process was honest and not just a rubber stamp then they would have at least asked their officers to investigate our comments.

"This decision was not made on Tuesday. It was made before Christmas, and there's been no budging them."

He hoped other jobs could be found for the care workers.

"There are some aspects of social services that they haven't privatised yet," he said.

A spokesman for the council declined to comment on the closures